SD Card Formatter LinuxUser’s Manual
Version 1.03
March 15, 2023

SD Card Association

SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.03

Revision History
DateVersion

Changes compared to previous issue

Jun. 10, 2022

1.00

First release

Jun. 14, 2022

1.01

Updated commands

Mar. 13, 2023

1.02

Updated Operating Systems list

Mar. 15, 2023

1.03

Add abbreviations©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association
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SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.03

Publisher and copyright holder of this document
SD Card Association
2400 Camino Ramon, Suite 375
San Ramon, CA 94583 USA
Telephone: +1 (925) 275-6615,Fax: +1 (925) 886-4870
E-mail: office@sdcard.org

Disclaimers
Downloading or using the SD Card Formatter is required to agree on the “End User LicenseAgreement” shown in the SDA website when downloading the SD Card Formatter as well as when
installing the application.

Copyright holder of SD Card Formatter Linux
Tuxera Inc owns copyright of the SD Card Formatter Linux programs for both the source code andobject code.

Trademark Notice
SD Logo, SDHC Logo and SDXC Logo are trademarks of SD-3C, LLC.
Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in
the United States and/or other countries.
Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Other product names and company names described in this document are trademarks or registeredtrademarks.

©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association2

SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.03

Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 4

1.

System Requirements .................................................................................................. 42.

2.1 Operating Systems ......................................................................................................................4
2.1.1 Debian ........................................................................................................................................4
2.1.2 Ubuntu ........................................................................................................................................4
2.1.3 Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit ..............................................................................................................4
2.1.4 Fedora ........................................................................................................................................42.1.5 Arch Linux ..................................................................................................................................4
2.2 SD Cards Capacity Types ............................................................................................................4
2.3 SD Card Interface Devices ..........................................................................................................43.

SD Card Formatter Installation .................................................................................... 5

4.

SD Card Formatter Uninstallation ............................................................................... 55.

Operation Guide ............................................................................................................ 6
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4

SD Card Formatter Command Line Interface .............................................................................6SD Card Formatter Version Information ......................................................................................8SD Card Formatter Update Function ...........................................................................................8SD Card Formatter Help Function ...............................................................................................8Important Notice ............................................................................................................ 96.

Table of Figures
Figure 1: SD Card Formatter Main Window ................................................................................................. 6Figure 2: Version information ....................................................................................................................... 8Figure 3: Update check ............................................................................................................................... 8Abbreviations
Name

Description

SD(SC)SD Standard Capacity up to 2GB

SDHC

SD High Capacity over 2GB and up to 32GB

SDXC

SD eXtended Capacity over 32GB and up to 2TB

EULAEnd User License Agreement

SDA

SD (Card) Association

CPRM

Content Protection for Recordable Media©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association3

SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.03

1. Introduction
The SD Card Formatter formats SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card and SDXC Memory Card
(respectively SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards) complying with the SD File System Specification created by theSD Association (SDA).
It is strongly recommended to use the SD Card Formatter to format SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards rather thanusing formatting tools provided with individual operating systems. In general, formatting tools provided
with operating systems can format various storage media including SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards, but it may
not be optimized for SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards, and it may result in lower performance.

2. System Requirements
2.1 Operating Systems
The SD Card Formatter has been tested to work under the following operating systems.
Execution of SD Card Formatter requires Administrator Rights.

2.1.1 Debian-

Debian 10, x86_64
Debian 11, x86_64
Debian 11, ARM64

2.1.2 Ubuntu-Ubuntu 20.04, x86_64

2.1.3 Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit-Raspberry Pi OS, ARM64 2022-04-07

2.1.4 Fedora-Fedora 35, x86_64
Fedora 35, ARM64

2.1.5 Arch Linux-Arch Linux, 2022.06.06 (5.17)

2.2 SD Cards Capacity Types
The SD Card Formatter formats the following SD Card capacity types.
- SD up to 2GB- SDHC more than 2GB up to 32GB
- SDXC more than 32GB up to 2TB

2.3 SD Card Interface Devices
The following SD interface devices are available to access SD/SDHC/SDXC Card:- SD Card slot on PC- USB2.0, USB3.0, USB3.1, USB-C SD Card reader
Please check that your SD Card interface device is compatible with your SD, SDHC or SDXC Card beforeusing the SD Card Formatter.
©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association4SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.03

3. SD Card Formatter Installation
SD Card Formatter for Linux is a portable command line tool. To use the tool, extract the tool to desired
location and invoke the tool using the path to the tool.
To use the tool, you have to accept the terms in the EULA.

4. SD Card Formatter Uninstallation
To remove SD Card Formatter for Linux from your computer, navigate to the folder where the tool islocated and remove the folder.

©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association
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5. Operation Guide
5.1 SD Card Formatter Command Line Interface
SD Card Formatter for Linux has the following options for formatting the device. To format SD card, please
unmount any partitions on it.
$ lsblk
NAME

MAJ:MIN RM

SIZE

RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS

sdb

8:16

159,5G0disk└─sdb1

8:17

159,5G0part /media/XXX/YYY$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1$ sudo ./format_sd --help (10)SD Card Formatter version 1.0.0 (build 3022.6.9d)
Developed by Tuxera Inc.
For assistance, please contact SDA Helpdesk at:
SDA Helpdesk <helpdesk@sdcard.org>(7)
(5)
(6)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(8)
usage: format_sd [-l <volume label>] [--cp <code page>] [--discard] [--overwrite] [--update-check] <device>$ sudo umount /dev/sdb1$ sudo ./format_sd -l Untitled /dev/sdb
SD Card Formatter version 1.0.0 (build 3022.6.9d)
Developed by Tuxera Inc.
Zero-filling unused sectors...
(9) [========================-] 14 %Formatted volume "/dev/sdb" successfully as exFAT!

Figure 1: SD Card Formatter Main Window©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association6

SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.03

(1)Formatting tool: ./format_sd
Portable command line tool for formatting SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card and SDXC
Memory Card (respectively SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards) complying with the SD File System
Specification created by the SD Association (SDA).

(2)

Volume label: --l <volume label>This option is used to specify the volume label of the card to be written into the card duringformatting. You can enter up to 11 characters in the [Volume label] field.
Note: if the volume label has been written in other than English characters, the information in may
not be shown correctly. In this case, you should enter a new volume label using English characters.

(3)

Code page: --cp <code page>Use the given code page to encode the volume label. The default code page is 437. To use
Japanese characters, select 932.

(4)

Formatting Option, Quick format
By default, the formatter performs a quick formatting. It deletes all the file/directory entries byinitializing file system parameters of the card but does not initialize the data written in files. If you
need to initialize the data in the files, use the [Overwrite format] option.

(5)

Formatting Option, --discard
This option deletes file/directory entries by discarding the whole device using Linux BLKDISCARD
interface and initializing file system parameters of the card. This formatting option requires support
from the SD card adapter and the card. If discard is not supported by the configuration, tool will use
default quick formatting instead.

(6)

Formatting Option, --overwrite
This option deletes file/directory entries by initializing file system parameters of the card and erase
all data by overwriting the user data area completely. This formatting option takes much longer timethan Quick format depending on the card capacity. Please make sure that your computer isconnected to a power supply and that sleep mode is disabled.

(7)

Update check option: --update-check
This option checks SDA website for newer version of the tool. If newer version is found, the tool will
ask the user to visit SD Card Formatter download site.

(8)

Device: <device>
SD card that will be formatted. Device is the special file corresponding to the SD card (e.g.
/dev/sdX). The device and partitions on the device must be unmounted. You can only select thewhole device for formatting.

(9)

Progress Information
Progress information will be displayed when formatting.

(10) Help option: --help
This option shows available command line options.
(11) About option: --about
This option shows the version of the tool.
(12) Cancel Formatting
You can cancel on-going formatting using keyboard shortcut Ctrl-c in terminal.
©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association
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SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.03

5.2 SD Card Formatter Version Information
You can check the version of the tool by invoking the tool with option --about.
$ sudo ./format_sd --about

SD Card Formatter version 1.0.0 (build 3022.6.9d)
Developed by Tuxera Inc.
---------------------------------------Copyright (C) 2010-2022 Tuxera Inc.
All rights reserved.

Figure 2: Version information

5.3 SD Card Formatter Update Function
The tool has Update check functionality to check for updates to the tool. You can invoke the update checkby option –update-check. If a new version is available, please visit the SDA SD Card Formatter download
page. Proceed to download the most recent version from this page.

$ sudo ./format_sd --update-check

SD Card Formatter version 1.0.0 (build 3022.6.9d)
Developed by Tuxera Inc.
Fetching latest version information...
No update available.
The current version is 1.0.0.
The latest version is 1.0.0.

Figure 3: Update check5.4 SD Card Formatter Help Function
The help function provides available options for SD Card Formatter tool. To access the help menu, use
option –help©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association8SD Card Formatter Linux User’s Manual Version 1.036. Important Notice(1)

Do not format recordable media other than SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards using the SD Card Formatter.
If you accidentally formatted a recordable media other than SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards, reformat themedia using the appropriate formatting software which came with the media.

(2)

Do not remove an SD/SDHC/SDXC Card or an SD Card interface device like USB SD Card reader
while formatting. Please use UMOUNT function on Linux for safe removal of the card.

(3)

Once formatting has started, all recorded information will no longer be available.

(4)

Check the position of the write protect switch on your card before formatting. The position shall beon the NOT PROTECTED position (i.e., upward).

(5)

If the system does not recognize the SD/SDHC/SDXC Card, re-insert the card.

(6)

The SD Card Formatter does not format the Protected Area in the card. The Protected Area is used
by CPRM (Content Protection for Recordable Media). The Protected Area shall be formatted byappropriate PC applications or SD host devices that provide CPRM function.

(7)

If the SD/SDHC/SDXC Card cannot be recognized by the SD Card Formatter after the card isinserted into an SD interface device (SD Card slot on PC, USB SD Card reader), check that theSD interface device is compatible with SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards. Some SD interface devices areinteroperable only with SD and SDHC Cards. Also, some PCs need to install drivers and filesystems to work with SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards.
If your system is compatible with SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards but the card is not recognized, try torestart your PC, and execute the SD Card Formatter again.

(8)

If you choose the [Quick format] option, all files in the card are deleted. However, data in the files
still remains in the card and it may be retrieved by using data recovery tool. Please use the[Overwrite format] option if you want to erase all data in the files completely.

(9)

SD Card Formatter does not format SD/SDHC/SDXC Card encrypted by the “BitLocker To Go"
provided with Windows. Please unlock the SD/SDHC/SDXC Card specified by Windows before
formatting the card.

(10) Execution of the SD Card Formatter requires Administrative Right for Linux.
(11) Overwrite format can be long depending on the size and speed of the card. Make sure that yourcomputer is connected to a power supply and that sleep mode is disabled.

©Copyright 2010-2023 SD Association9